House to vote on No Child Left Behind rewrite

By Jennifer C. Kerr

Associated Press

Posted:
12/03/2015 07:02:47 AM MST

WASHINGTON — After years of failed efforts, the House moved toward a vote Wednesday on legislation that would roll back the federal role in American education but retain the testing requirement in the No Child Left Behind law that many parents, teachers and school districts abhor.

The 1,000-plus page measure, a compromise reached by House and Senate negotiators, would give states more authority to decide how to improve schools and judge teachers.

Following the House, the Senate is to vote on the measure early next week and President Barack Obama is expected to sign it.

Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., who led the House-Senate conference committee on the legislation, said Washington has been micromanaging the nation's classrooms for too long.

"Today, we turn the page on the failed status quo and turn over to our nation's parents and our state and local leaders the authority, flexibility and certainty they need to deliver children an excellent education," he said.

The No Child law has been due for renewal since 2007, but previous attempts to reauthorize it have gotten caught in a broader debate over the federal role in public education.

Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia, the Democratic leader on the Education Committee, said the bill will make a positive difference in the lives of children by requiring "states to put into place the assessment, accountability and improvement policies that will close achievement gaps with locally designed and evidence-based strategies."

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The legislation would maintain a key feature of the Bush-era law: annual reading and math testing of children in grades 3 through 8 and in high school. And it would require schools to make those test scores public noting students' races and whether they are disabled to help identify achievements gaps and struggling schools.

Principals, teachers, parents and others have complained for years about what they consider a maze of redundant and unnecessary tests and too much "teaching to the test" by educators. The legislation would encourage states to set limits on the total amount of time kids spend taking tests.

In a significant shift, the bill would return to the states the decision-making power over how to use students' performance on the tests to assess teachers and schools. The measure also would end federal efforts to encourage academic standards such as Common Core guidelines and the linking of test scores to teacher evaluations.

The bill had mostly broad support on the left and right, though many agreed it didn't deliver everything they were seeking.

Some conservatives balked, saying the bill didn't go far enough to dismantle federal influence in schools. On the left, civil rights groups gave the bill only tepid support, saying it is an improvement but still falls short.

Under the bill, the Education Department would see a much-diminished role and no longer be able to sanction schools that fail to improve. Instead, states would be responsible for working with schools and local districts to develop achievement goals and accountability plans.

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